The Department for Infrastructure (DfI, Irish: An Roinn Bonneagair;[4] Ulster-Scots: Depairment fur Infrastructure) is a devolved Northern Ireland government department in the Northern Ireland Executive.
Department overview | |
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Formed | May 2016 |
Preceding Department |
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Jurisdiction | Northern Ireland |
Headquarters | Clarence Court, 10–18 Adelaide Street, Belfast, BT2 8GB |
Employees | 2,279 (March 2019)[1] |
Annual budget | £291.4 million (current) & £268.2 million (capital) for 2018–19[2] |
Minister responsible | |
Department executive |
|
Website | www.infrastructure-ni.gov.uk |
Up until May 2016, the department was called the Department for Regional Development.
DfI's overall aim is to "improve quality of life by securing transport and water infrastructure and shaping the region's long-term strategic development".[5]
The department's main responsibilities include [6]
Two transport matters are reserved to Westminster and are therefore not devolved: [7]
DfI's main counterparts in the United Kingdom Government are:
In the Irish Government, its main counterparts are:
The Ministry of Home Affairs was established on the formation of Northern Ireland in June 1921 and was responsible for a range of non-economic domestic matters, including local government. A separate Ministry of Health and Local Government was formed in 1944 and was subsequently split in 1965, to create the Ministry of Development. An environment ministry existed in the 1974 Northern Ireland Executive and the ministry was known as the Department of the Environment under direct rule.
The DoE is still a phrase used in everyday language in Northern Ireland to describe the Roads Service, which was once run by the department but is currently an agency of the Department for Infrastructure.
Following a referendum on the Belfast Agreement on 23 May 1998 and the granting of royal assent to the Northern Ireland Act 1998 on 19 November 1998, a Northern Ireland Assembly and Northern Ireland Executive were established by the United Kingdom Government under Prime Minister Tony Blair. The process was known as devolution and was set up to return devolved legislative powers to Northern Ireland. DRD was one of five new devolved Northern Ireland departments created in December 1999 by the Northern Ireland Act 1998 and The Departments (Northern Ireland) Order 1999.
A devolved minister first took office on 2 December 1999. Devolution was suspended for four periods, during which the department came under the responsibility of direct rule ministers from the Northern Ireland Office:
Since 8 May 2007, devolution has operated without interruption.
Minister | Image | Party | Took office | Left office | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Peter Robinson | DUP | 29 November 1999 | 11 February 2000 | ||
Office suspended | |||||
Peter Robinson | DUP | 30 May 2000 | 26 July 2000 | ||
Gregory Campbell | DUP | 27 July 2000 | 18 October 2001[21] | ||
Peter Robinson | DUP | 25 October 2001 | 11 October 2002 | ||
Office suspended | |||||
Conor Murphy | Sinn Féin | 14 May 2007 | 4 May 2011 | ||
Danny Kennedy | UUP | 16 May 2011 | 2 September 2015 | ||
Michelle McIlveen | DUP | 21 September 2015 | 30 March 2016[note 1] | ||
Office renamed Minister for Infrastructure | |||||
Chris Hazzard | Sinn Féin | 25 May 2016 | 26 January 2017 | ||
Office suspended | |||||
Nichola Mallon | SDLP | 11 January 2020 | 5 May 2022 | ||
John O'Dowd | Sinn Féin | 16 May 2022 | 27 October 2022 | ||
Office suspended | |||||
John O'Dowd | Sinn Féin | 3 February 2024 | Incumbent |
During the periods of suspension, the following ministers of the Northern Ireland Office were responsible for the department: